Chloe and Michael Block’s love story started at Saratoga High School and endured as they pursued their medical careers before ultimately settling back in Saratoga, where they now provide specialty veterinary care to their longtime neighbors.
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Growing up on the same street in Saratoga, the Blocks followed each other to both the East and the West Coasts throughout their residencies and fellowships. “We always knew we wanted to come home, because this is home,” said cardiologist and Chief Medical Officer Chloe Block.
She said the goal of Apex Veterinary Specialists is to provide the highest standard of care for pets in a low-stress way for both their animal and human clients. Apex currently offers specialty cardiology services, including echocardiograms, X-rays, laboratory testing and cardiac catherization. They can treat heart failure, arrhythmia, high blood pressure and congenital heart disease, among other conditions.
A calming and relaxing environment was literally built into their practice, located at 19100 Cox Ave. From the aquarium at the front desk to pheromone sprays and lavender aromatherapy diffusers to allowing pets to sit on their owner’s lap or on the floor during exams, cardiothoracic anesthesiologist Michael Block said it was important that to them to chip away their clienteles’ stress throughout the whole process.
“From (front desk attendant) Candy, the way she talks to them to let them know what’s coming in when they walk in the door, we try and bring the stress down at each level,” he said.
The low-stress environment severs multiple purposes, he added. Since the pets coming in already have heart disease, the calming environment helps them relax for exams without medications or sedations. It also helps owners, who may be really stressed about their pets’ condition. Lastly, the relaxing environment is better for staff because it means that clients won’t mistreat them in high-stress scenarios.
A recent patient was Alitas, a 13-year-old labradoodle with a heart murmur. Her owner Diana Alas, a 26-year-old East Palo Alto resident, came to Apex Veterinary Specialists on a referral. Alitas’ heart murmur was detected during a check-up last year, but Alas said she noticed the dog slightly coughing or hacking a few times every other week, so she wanted to get it checked out.
The staff let Alitas and Alas stay together, giving the former whipped cream to distract her while her blood pressure was being taken, and Alas held Alitas while Chloe Block performed an echocardiogram on her dog.
“Honestly, when I stepped here, it was really relaxing, very comforting. Everyone was nice, and they go out of their way to make her feel very easy, make it a stress-free environment,” Alas said. “I know bringing her here, there’s a reason and they can help bring medication, recommendations. I trust that they know what’s best for her.”
Chloe Block later told Alas that there was a thickened valve in Alitas’ heart that was not closing the way it should, causing a backflow of blood and moderate leak in the valve and early-stage enlargement of the heart. She prescribed a medication that would help improve the pumping function and dilate the blood vessels, driving the blood forward and reducing backflow. Since the condition is degenerative, Alitas will be on medication for the rest of her life to slow the disease’s progression and prevent her heart from getting bigger. The risk of not doing anything for Alitas’ heart is that it would get too big, building pressure against her lungs, which could cause fluid to get in her lungs and lead to congestive heart failure.
Apex Veterinary Specialists is the culmination of the Blocks’ 18 years of post-graduate training and some of the frustrations they had with previous workplaces. Michael Block said the idea for Apex started as some notes on a napkin in 2020, then they bought the building, which used to house two dental clinics and a legal office, in October 2023, before finally opening their doors on Oct. 17 last year.
When asked about expansion, they said that the location was big enough to for four other vets, but they would like to continue providing specialty care like neurology, dentistry or ophthalmology. Michael Block said they want to remain an outpatient service since there are a lot of emergency veterinary services but not a lot of veterinary specialists in the South Bay.
Ultimately, that decision brought them back home, where things came full circle when Michel Block’s first-grade teacher brought her dog in for their care.
“We really wanted to get the best we could of world-class training and bring it back to our community,” he said.